Monday, 31 October 2011

I don't speak Italian but I'm pretty sure the title here would translate as 'sweet and deep'. Which nicely sums up the three tracks on the second installment in this series from DJ Ermi and the recently revitalised, always on-point Black Vinyl Records.

DSP is driven by a full-phat bassline that underpins crisp, insistent percussion, some flute wibbles that for once DON'T sound horribly self-indulgent (largely because they're not overdone) and spoken male vox about power and freedom and stuff. House is another funktified affair but a tad more driving, with some old-skool sounding piano chords and one of those vocals… yeah you know the ones… while Man A Man goes down a more percussive, almost DC10/tribally kinda path, albeit with the shakers and what have you offset by some sweetly meandering Spanish guitar and vibes (as in vibes the instrument).

Actually, thinking about it, perhaps whatever the Italian is for 'sweet and upbeat' might've been a better title, cos the emphasis here is definitely on dancefloor rumpshakers rather than late-night headnod-athons… but it's a strong EP all the same.

Out: This week

About: At the moment you can mostly find Black Vinyl online at their Facebook page, but here's an interesting interview with label boss Alan Russell at Stompy as well.

In which a young Puerto Rican called Jose Gutierrez serves up "a blend of energetic and funky tunes, alongside deeper laidback grooves," according to the hype sheet… and sorry to be so lazy and just cut and paste that but to be fair, that IS pretty much the size of it.

There are four tracks featured, of which you can file Higher and Jack under 'energetic and funky' and Rising Sunsets and We Communicate under 'deeper and laidback'. I'm gonna plump for Rising Sunsets as my pick as of this moment, cos it's brought a little sunshine into a cold, rainy and miserable October night. But were I on a dancefloor right now it'd be Jack that I'd want to hear the most: it's upbeat enough to move bodies but floaty and drifty at the same time, which for me at least is always a winning combo.

Sunday, 30 October 2011

Ho ho ho, merry Xmas everybody! And here's wishing you the very happiest of festive greetings for this joyous season of… no hang on, it's not Xmas at all, is it? No it's Hallowe'en, season of scary monsters, supercreeps, ghosts and ghouls and things that go bump in the night. If only someone would put together a handy compilation of dark n' scary dubstep and D&B to suit the occasion… oh look, they have!

The good news, though, is that as compilations of dark n' scary dubstep and D&B with tracks called stuff like Werewolf and Tales From The Darkside go, this isn't actually the horribly gnarly kiddie-chav-horror-fest you might expect. There are one or two comedically gnarly numbers from the 'subtle as a slasher movie' school of thought, certainly. But generally speaking the darkness on the 20 tracks featured here comes as often from dark atmospherics and moody cinematic tension as it does from ridiculous saw-tooth basslines or someone shouting “I'm going to eat your brain.”

About: This trip to the darkside is brought to you by Section 8 Dub, those Denver-based stalwarts of all things D&B and dubstep-related. Section 8 actually tend towards the darker side of things a lot of the time anyway, which makes the pleasing restraint shown here doubly surprising.

A three-track EP from Smoof here that sits somewhere between deep techno and progressive house, and is musical and melodic enough that it could also have broader appeal, particularly for afterhours parties, Sunday sessions, radio shows and the like.Dreaming Of Unkissed Waters mingles deep house, deep techno and Balearic influences. Minion is a more straight-up deep techno cut with a dramatic feel that should appeal to the progressive house DJs, while Uncomplicated is another track that's in a proggy vein, only this time it's not so much drama'd up as zonked out… just eight minutes of electronic grooves to put you in a trance. The good sort of trance, that is… not, y'know, the trance sort!

A decent bet, then, for lovers of that whole 'well-crafted soundscapes' kinda vibe.

Out:This week

About: This is the latest from the UK's Zipped Records – relative newcomers to the scene but turning out some good stuff for sure (and always so polite in their emails, too, not to mention being based in TIWWD's old home town of Manchesterford-On-Sea)

A five-track EP here from Mr Gomori as he returns to Baker Street, with three mixes of No Man Is An Island plus bonus cuts IJM and I See The Dubble With You.

In its original form, No Man Is An Island is a solid, chunky houser that sways along nicely at 124bpm, with a garage-y organ hook and the tiniest of male vocal snippets giving it an overall soulful and quite mellow vibe. Denney's Bak 2 Jak Remix is, as the name suggests, a somewhat tuffer refix, using a longer section of the vocal and featuring a jaunty walking bassline, a longer section of vocal used, while Melos & Kyber go the other way on their Parrots & Palm Trees Remix, taking us into chilled-out territory at 120bpm.

IJM, meanwhile, features Saytek and is unsurprisingly a slightly techier proposition, though with similar Jersey-style organs to No Man… as well, while I See The Dubble With You is a decidedly 'slo-mo' affair, using the mantra-like repetition of a series of ever-building loops to create a sense of big room drama despite the postively sedate 120bpm pace.

It's the original or Bak 2 Jak mixes of the title tracks that are doing it best for me, but with a range of styles to choose from this EP's definitely worth investigating.

Lusty Zanzibar is something of a Nang stalwart already, having appeared on several label comps and remixed numerous Nang artists… so where else to head with his debut full-length?

Opening with The Feeling, which was out as a single some months back, Find A Way sees this young UK producer finding his way along a musical path that takes in elements of nu-disco, house and Balearica, and blending all those elements together to come up with a distinctive shiny happy grown-up dance pop hybrid all of his own, with Muneerah's sweet female vocals (which appear on over half the tracks) helping to lend cohesion to the whole. As regards the question, 'is it any good or not?'… well yeah it's okay, actually, or I wouldn't be writing about it – it can sound a little sickly-sweet and cloying in places, at times, but that depends on your mood I think.

Definitely an album you'll want to pick your moment for, then. But there are enough gems here – disco instrumental Luminous Motion, Stonebridge-esque pop-house anthem Don't Stop On The Beat, the icy Detroit-isms of On Our Way To Bliss – to make this worth a punt all the same.

Friday, 28 October 2011

You may remember that Spanish tech-housers Vozmediano cropped up on King Street's New Breed Of Deep House V/A sampler EP not so long since, with the excellent Un Cafe S'Il Vous Plait. Well, now they're back on the legendary New York label with an EP all of their very own.

You get four tracks and five mixes, in total. All I Said is a decent enough if slightly generic slab of NY-style house, while Tango does what you think it's gonna do but in much less of a cheesy oompah-loompah style than you're probably expecting, and comes complete with a Nacho Marco Remix that for me is the standout cut of the whole EP, with the tango elements relegated to a secondary role in what becomes a big, driving houser suitable for main rooms and more underground floors alike.

Green Worm is a rawer-sounding house cut with more than a little of the early Strictlies about it, and then finally the EP comes to a close with Kill The Disco itself, a jerky, cut-up, experimental affair awash with reversed sounds, random bits of Afro chanting, sudden incongruous disco loops that burst in out of nowhere and disappear again just as quickly and, well, you get the idea. It's crazy but you know what, it just might work…

All told there's plenty to enjoy and a little bit to digest, too, making this one of King Street's best releases of late for me.

There's the proverbial clue in the name here because the Original Mix of Dancing Chords, at least, is all about the pia-pia-pianos…not in a screaming, tinkling Italian rave way, though. Or even in a minor-key, jazzy way. More in a rollicking, almost rock n' roll (think Great Balls Of Fire) or tango-inspired way.

Hmmm. As you can see I'm kinda struggling to describe this properly, but once you hear its incessant jaunty ivories, topped off with brass stabs and underpinned by simple rolling beats, you'll know exactly what I'm on about. Definitely one of the month's quirkier and more interesting house releases, this one, and you can see it appealing to fans of Stimming, Solomun, Ripperton et al.

Remix-wise, we're back in slightly more familiar dancefloor territory, as Roland Nights goes for an upbeat, vibe on a mix that's carnival-esque and Ibiza-y in parts and really quite deep in others, while Audiotonic serves up a Phuturebound Dub that has a lot more space in the mix, which only makes those BIG piano chords sound even bigger!

Out: This week

About: Both Jesus Pablo and Roland Nights have made many appearances on Lost My Dog but this one comes courtesy of Al Bradley's ever-excellent 3am Recordings.

The second release from new UK label Savoir Faire Musique, and a little cracker it is too, with three standalone tracks from Argentinian producer Dual T to choose from.

Where Did The Love Go is a big, driving house cut with a an insistent two-note synth/organ hook and snippets of cut-up female vocal, and kinda reminds me of early Angel Moraes material. Kirsty is a more party-hearty affair with brass stabs and a feel that's very reminiscent of the jazzier end of early (we're talking strictly 95-98) UK garage… and then finally Night Feels itself loops a snippet of Tweet's Boogie 2 Nite (or possibly a resung version thereof) over some lush-with-a-capital-L pads to produce a proper late night driftaway number, with some Theremin (?) wibbles thrown in for added spacey effect.

Top quality stuff all round, then. Nothing else to say really, except that this one will delight the older heads for sure!

Out: This week

About:Savoir Faire Musique is a new project from City Soul Project's Scott Harrington and can be found online here. Both SFM releases to date have been stormers so they're definitely a label to keep an eye on!

Italy's Beenoise is a label that's cropped up on here a few times lately. Although primarily a techno/minimal label, they seem to grasp as so few do that such styles can still be fun n' funky… and things are definitely fun n' funky here, on what's without doubt the housiest thing I've heard from Beenoise to date.

The original's a proggy, chugging slab of near-instrumental… well, house, but with a distinct techno twist to the sound palette. The remixes, though, from Bathajja and Agent Orange NYC vs Becka? Straight-up jacking house music through and through.

Thursday, 27 October 2011

Some more quality deep house action for you tonight, this time coming from rising UK producer Mr Smallwood and the ever-checkable Manchester Underground Music.

The Original of Delphic is a chugging, somewhat proggy instrumental dancefloor workout, while Ovi's mix ups both the tempo and the tech quotient a little. Both will move bodies for sure, but it's really the Mark Holmes Remix I'm feeling the most, as he takes the track considerably deeper and dreamier… in this form, Delphic becomes the kind of deep house cut you'd want to shut your eyes and lean back with a 'long cigarette' to enjoy at its best and, well, there's always room in the collection for another of those, isn't there?

Out: This week

About:Manchester Underground Music, as I've said before, can be a bit techno-oriented for me at times but when they do deep house, they do it exceptionally well, as I've also said before!

Wednesday, 26 October 2011

And from an artist (Nathan G) and a label (Large) that you should all be aware of, to an artist (Bhoo, obviously) that I haven't come across before and a label (Four Fingers Hand) who are only on their eighth release. It's all about the balance, y'see.

Bhoo are, I'm told, a collective of DJs and producers based in Naples, Italy. And that's about all I know, but on this evidence let's hope we hear more from them soon. The Original of Dust Flower is a near-instrumental deep houser built for the dancefloor with little techy tinges around the edges; Floska's remix takes us into deeper, sparser afterhours territory, Gastek brings the track's soulful/melodic qualities to the fore while Lostrocket takes things just a little more upbeat and summery.

But it's a quality deep house offering whichever way you spin it. More, please.

A very fine house album here from Australia's Nathan G, on veteran Chicago house label Large Music. Nathan G has had previous releases on respected labels including Salted, Lo:Rise, Amenti and (mostly) Kinky Vinyl, and that experience shows as he serves up a long-player that manages to take in various moods and flavas while staying within the house blueprint nearly at all times.

For the lovers of very soulful vibes, there's The Promise, featuring Alexander East on vocals. If you're seeking that still soulful but slightly more bumpin' west coast vibe there's Together, this time with Lisa Shaw providing the vox. Rapture melds 80s boogie and classic piano house vibes, Cosmic String and Wonder Vision are late-night and dreamy (though still pretty upbeat), Slow Burning is slow n' sultry, Love Letters featuring Cecilia Stain is kinda quirky, mellow, jazzy and sexy à la Deee-Lite circa Dewdrops In The Garden, while The Glow itself is an object lesson in how you can make a whole quality house track based around a one-line vocal sample (from Degrees Of Motion's Do You Want It Right Now).

There's also a couple of more downtempo/beats-y cuts – the Hawaiian-influence Shangrila and the more hiphop-inspired Street Spice – and they're good too but overall, yeah… a very fine house album, is what you need to know here!

Out: This week

About: Founded by Jeff Craven, Large have been in the game since the mid-90s. Find out all you need to know and read an interview with Nathan G at their website.

Tuesday, 25 October 2011

And speaking of records where the clue's in the name… can you guess what instrument features heavily in this one, readers?

In fact, Sax-A-Tron really ain't nothing much more than a huge long sax jam, underpinned by driving house beats. Okay, yes, there's some percussion breakdowns n' that, and the Alan Gilmour Remix dispenses with the horn in places in favour of the slightly electrohouse-ish synths, but basically think The Man With The Red Face and you'll get the idea.

So whether you like this record or not will depend on whether you like honking, parping, wailing saxophones, basically. Some people can't stand 'em for any money. Me, I can't get enough of 'em so yeah, this works just fine for me.

Out: This week

About: This comes on CSD Recordings, which is a brand new imprint under the Universe Media umbrella.

For their 51st release, Lancashire-based Discotech Records release a seven-track mini-album sampler… and the clue's in the name, because the very definite theme here is house, tech-house and techno grooves aimed at dancefloor hi-jinks, pure and simple.

The seven tracks come from Matt Fear, Carl Howson (twice), Resumo, Darkworks, Loonic and Wicked Actions. I'm not gonna go into all of 'em individually – I'm in a bit of a rush right now – but the funky, looping tech-house of Howson's Don't Like It and Matt Fear's deeper house cut Back Chat stand out, while Resumo's Idum is also good fun in a bigger room kinda way.

It's solid-enough stuff all round though, and with seven tracks on offer you can't fault the VFM.

Out: This week

About: Find Discotech Records online here. Click through and you'll also find links to Soundcloud pages for the artists involved, where you can HEAR most of these tracks.

Monday, 24 October 2011

Promised you we'd be keeping it nice and deep today, and one label that can always be relied on to do just that is Switzerland's criminally-underrated Acryl Music.

Here we're in proggy, instrumental rather than soulful territory, but this is just as lovely and deep – and just as good – as the Spelle brothers release below. Riccicomoto's Dub Shuffle Edit tuffens the title track up a little for the floor, Freeway plays with a more disco-inspired soundset while Loving That Lost Feeling is a tad more driving.

Overall, another set of gems for those afterhours sets or for late-night home listening. Just the way we like it.

Out: This week (Friday to be precise) on Beatport, then everywhere else from 11 Nov.

About: You can hit up Acryl on their website or find 'em on Soundcloud. Oh, and Helly Larson comes from Berlin BTW, seeing as I'd not mentioned it so far.

Gonna kick off the TIWWD week with a couple of proper deep treats, the first of which is this, from a pair of French brothers.

For Can't Stop Thinking About You itself, think very, VERY deep house from the soulful end of the spectrum, with the dreamy original complimented nicely by a just-slightly-more-dancefloor remix by Deep Active Sound, aka Mihail Bessmertny. The other track featured, Something About Your Lovin', retains the deep vibe and soulful inflections but is nonetheless considerably more driving and floor-oriented, with some old-skool M1 organ stabs to die for. This one then gets a more laidback, jazzy refix from Karol XVII & MB Valence, as well as a sumptuous late-night rub from Marvin Zeyss.

So that's two tracks, five mixes in total and not a duff cut among 'em – go and find this immediately.

Out: This week

About: To quote the hype sheet, "New Zealand's UM Records is a brand new project from untitledmusic, the deep house ‘brand’ that encompasses a blog, a worldwide weekly radio show and the largest deep house fan group on Facebook." You can download a whole bunch of archived Untitled Music radio shows at their Soundcloud page, while the aforesaid Facebook group is the excellent Deep House page.

Sunday, 23 October 2011

It's nearly midnight, but before TIWWD turns into a pumpkin there's just time to tell you about this excellent best-of-so-far from UK label 22 Digit, who recently celebrated their third birthday.

Ranging from the proggy, dubby throb of William Welt & Pete Weasel's Paranoia (presented here in YokoO Light Shine On Through Remix form) to the classic US-style house of Boo Boo The Fool by Ludowick (which I seem to recall reviewing in iDJ once upon a time) to the simply superb Michael McLardy Remix of Shaun Warner's fem-voxed deep/tech-house gem Release Me, the album's stylistically varied but the quality standard is high throughout.

If you've yet to discover the charms of this rising Newcastle-based label, this is the perfect place to catch up.

Next up, we stick with the disco vibes. But given that this hails from Norway and is brought to you by Paper Recordings, you'd be expecting something a bit deeper, and you'd be right. That said, while On & On features the lush production values we've come to expect from that whole Scandi-disco scene, it thankfully lacks the epic/prog pretensions of certain bigger-name artists I could mention.

There are five mixes in total, the Original plus re-rubs from Leca, Mowgli, Ralph Myerz and Proviant Audio. The general vibe doesn't vary hugely on the first few, it has to be said – lush, melodic instrumental disco with some vaguely John Carpenter-esque synths ("is this a Halloween mix or something?" asked my GF) is pretty much the idea on the Original, Leca and Mowgli mixes. Not that that's by any means a bad thing!

Proviant Audio though does head off in a different direction, with a jazz-tinged mix that makes me think of 70s cop movie soundtracks in some parts, and of hypothetical lounge bars in outer space in others. And then there's Ralph's take: his 5am Eternal Love Dub puts the emphasis on dub in the traditional sense, and throws in that classic "you make me feel so good" sample for maximum "90s raver post-club" effect.

Named in honour of Colombian footballer Carlos Valderrama, this marks the very first release from a collective of DJs, VJs and party people based in Venice, Italy.

Disco-house is the vibe overall but across the EP, various flavas are on offer. The original of Valderrambla itself is a pumping, hi-octane affair in the manner of labels such as Bid Muzik or Nocturnal; in Scuola Furano's hands, though, it becomes a much more slow-grinding, sleazy number with a postively rude bassline and some bleepy old-skool house synths, while Australia's Ashton takes the BPM down further still and adds some nu-disco polish.

You also get Cocomero, a Moroder/Italo-style workout, plus Moranzani, a euphoric piano track in the classic Italian house style. Whatever style of disco-infused house you're after, then, this is well worth checking.

Out: For a couple of weeks, I believe, but we'll break the rules seeing as they're new…

About: You can find out all you need to know about Rambla Boys from their website, Facebook and Soundcloud pages. They can already count Faze Action, Serge Santiago and Hard Ton among their supporters, I'm told, so I'd suggest you take a look!

Saturday, 22 October 2011

The second installment in the No Limit To Love series from So Sound Recordings focuses on the city where it all began, Chicago. That's not to say all the tracks featured COME from Chicago, though… the concept's a little more involved than that, as Fabian himself explains:

"I moved from Argentina to Chicago in 1990 and lived there for 11 years…when I put this compilation together I was thinking of my early days, when I started producing house music in my apartment on Wolcott & Division. The cold weather and snow was the perfect background for a dreamy creative journey, sampling my favourite jazz & funk records and getting into the late night sessions without even noticing. This compilation features the brilliant work of some of the hottest new producers from around the globe - from the UK, Russia, Argentina, Puerto Rico, and Germany, as well as Chicago & San Francisco - all bringing their own take on 'Chicago House'.

“This is also a tribute to Mark Farina, whom I met at Shelter in Chicago in 1991. Mark is the man who invented the style of house represented on this compilation - he was the one who brought all these styles together and made them all work, shuffled on top of chunky house grooves. I want to specially thank Mark Farina for being of so much inspiration."

So much for Jazzy Eyewear's intentions, what about the TIWWD verdict? Well, deep house is essentially the order of the day… but ranging from the (nu) disco-fied to the jazzy to the techy and all stops in between, so it's by no means same-y. There's plenty of dancefloor bounce throughout, as would befit the Chi-town theme, but two tracks from Freaky Behaviour, Chunky Butt and Table Magic, are particularly worthy of your attention.

So: wicked stuff, in a word. Or rather two words, but you know what I mean. Acquire.

Out: Last week… I didn't get round to it then, for various reasons, but it was just too good to ignore.

Staying on a tech-house tip here, but going a little bit deeper with it, this is the latest from UK producer, coming courtesy of US label Headtunes Recordings.

The original of Gravity is a midtempo affair sitting right on that deep/tech border, with a dubby feel to the bassline and some soaring synths for that eyes-wide-shut dreamaway effect. Deepshizzol supplies a remix that beefs up the beats slightly to give the track a little more dancefloor oomph, and adds a spoken vocal – which sounds like it's been sampled from some old public information film or something – featuring a guy talking about the influence of African rhythms on music. Mike Jules' Mid-90s Basement Mix, meanwhile, is fairly accurate in its self-assessment… if you were dancing to deep house in basements in the 90s you'll know just what I mean. Unsurprisingly, I think this would be my pick of the three rubs on offer.

But that's not all, because you also get two mixes of bonus cut The Haunting. Clarke's original is a slightly more uptempo tech-houser to kick off, then settles down into something altogether groovier, jazzier and more house-ified, while the MJ Lo-Fi Beats Version (also from Mr Jones, as above) flips the script entirely and takes the track into dusty, beatdown kinda territory.

All told, more evidence that Mr Clarke is definitely one to keep an eye on.

Out:This week

About: This is what the hype sheet has to say about Headtunes (cos I'm feeling lazy):

Since 2005 Boston-based Headtunes Recordings have released music by respected underground producers including Audio Soul Project, Joshua Iz, Pete Dafeet, Dexter and Sleazy McQueen alongside up and coming talents such as Rob Clarke, Brenden Wesley, Markus Mehta, Matt Prehn and Bass Experiment. The labels diverse sound covers everything from nu disco through house and techno.

Friday, 21 October 2011

Okay… I'm kinda tired right now, so you'll probably only get one review tonight. And we'll keep it simple by picking this one, cos there's only the two mixes!

Creeper in its Original form sees Grayson and Lee operating in familiar is-it-house-is-it-techno territory, consisting primarily over a simple clip-clop rhythm and pulsing synth b-line, atop which an array of atmospherics compete to drag you and your head off into strange inner worlds… one for those small-hours, locked-on times on the dancefloor.

On the flip, meanwhile, the Waifs & Strays Remix features slightly housier percussion and an array of different vocal samples, many of them heavily treated, and would be more obviously filed under the tech-house banner.

Whichever mix you opt for though, this is solid booty-moving business aimed fair and square at the dancefloor.

Out: This week

About:Creeper marks another outing for Deepgroove on Tim Sheridan's Veryverywrongindeed label, where they've made several previous appearances. You can find all the usual social media links at the top of the home page… but scroll down as well cos I just noticed they posted a review from iDJ that I wrote as well. Which is always kinda nice.

Thursday, 20 October 2011

Back on a tech-house tip here, with a cut from Italian producer Lorenzo Panico that comes in four very different mixes.

The Memz Vocal Version is a game of two halves (Brian). The first half features a spoken vocal from cockney geezer Memz, who ponders the nature of deja vu, and particularly how it relates to the ecstasy experience, atop dramatic theatrical organs and pretty much nothing else… then, after a couple of minutes, techy, clicky percussion, handclaps and a twiddling analogue synth come along to play us out for the remaining three. It's something of an oddity, truth be told, but not without its charms for sure.

The Piano Groove is more yer standard techy jacker, with looping female vocal snips and of course the eponymous joanna, though the latter is buried quite deep in the mix. The Instrumental starts out all deep n' sultry, then gets in-your-face with some insistent looping, squelching synths… and then finally, the Dub is essentially a nine-minute beats tool but with all kinds of experimental squiggles n' such going on over the top.

All told, I'm not gonna lie and say I'm totally in love with this one – I mean it's fine, I'm just not in love with it, if you see what I mean. But if you like things a little more out-there and experimental, then you just might be.

For those that don't know, and there might be some I guess, The Littlemen - AKA Steve Lee and Gavin Belton – emerged out of the same East Midlands deep house free party scene that gave us DiY and the Inland Knights.

Given that fact, and given that this is a 'best of' compilation celebrating ten years since their first release, you probably think you've got a pretty good idea what to expect her. And yes, that well-established East Midlands bump is the order of the day to a large extent. But to be fair, there's more to Retro Resources than that, because as well as cobbling together some of their best-loved tracks, they've also commissioned remixes from a host of contemporary names including Lawnchair Generals, Kinky Movement, Raoul Belmans, Ken ECB, Special Interest and the aforesaid Inland Knights themselves.

As such, it's a little more current-sounding than it could have been. and a very solid bet indeed for fans of UK-style deep house. Hell, the slap bass-tastic remix of Foolin' Around by Tony Laminex is worth the price of admission on its own!

Out: This week

About: Like most of the Littlemen's output, this comes on their own Mobile Trax imprint.

Wednesday, 19 October 2011

Seems like a while since we discussed any D&B on here, so let's rectify that right now with this rather lovely liquid funk cut from Mr Explicit & Balistik.

Philadelphia Sunrise comes in two mixes, the Original plus a refix from Utah Jazz. Truth be told they don't vary huge amounts, stylistically, but the Original is perhaps slightly better geared for dancefloor action, with more peaks and troughs, while Utah Jazz's rub sounds a little more smoothed-out, possibly with radio play in mind. That said, it's also got a certain low-end menace that's not there on the Original.

Whichever mix you choose, though, this has enough energy for the dancefloor, yet is deep n' dreamy enough for home listening too. It's the bollocks, frankly. And that's all you need to know.

Out: This week

About: This comes on Plush Recordings, who are based in the remarkably unlikely combination of 'Denver and Lowestoft'.

Okay, so if I can just distract everyone from the Richie Hawtin/vinyl vs digital/Facebook storm in a teacup for one second… teehee… here we have two prime slices of what you might quite justifiably call 'tracky shit' from Mr Robson, aimed really at techno/minimal floors but – might I be so bold as to suggest – enough of a funky feel to appeal to house jocks too.

Logisticks, as the name suggests, is an out-and-out drum track, while One To Eight on the flip is as much about the pulsating b-line and as it is about the endlessly looping hand percussion. Neither's likely to be your favourite tune of the year or end up as one of your Desert Island Discs, but then they're not meant to. These are tracks designed purely for adding depth and texture to your DJ sets, and they'll do that job admirably. Fine work Mr R.

Out: This week

About: This comes atcha on those Essex-based techno stalwarts Sounds of Juan.

Tuesday, 18 October 2011

A four-track EP from Soiree Records concentrating, as you've probably guessed, on mellower vibes on a post-club kinda tip. As it's from Detroit, I guess we should use the word 'beatdown' as well.

CloudMasterWeed gives us Sunny (remixed by Mattimo-Perine), a very deep and quite slow number with bruk-style percussion, pulsating pads, nicely understated minor-key jazz pianos and what I could swear is a sample of Presuming Ed's chanting from Withnail & I! Blackjack's Triaxial is more firmly in deep house territory but just as dreamy and drifty, while Professor Inc's Quindrant Dub is for those who like it a little techier and more experimental. And more minimal, cos it's barely even there at times!

But the star of the show here for me is Peppermint Kisses by Drivetrain, AKA Derrick Thompson, who I hadn't heard anything from I don't think since the excellent One Wish Wonder album on Little Angel in 2005. It's a simply sumptous slice of sultry, soulful and uber-deep house… with some rather filthlicious spoken vox if you listen carefully.

All told, a highly recommended purchase for sofa surfers and lounge lizards everywhere.

Out: This week

About: This comes on Soiree International. Based in the Motor City as I said, the label is run by Derrick Thomson himself and was also home to Drivetrain's OTHER 2005 album, which I've only just found out about, The Deepest Harmony Of Drivetrain. Hey, every day's a school day...

Well then… I said the other day that I've been getting less nu-disco through, and maybe a change really is in the wind, because here even TIWWD's favourite purveyor of retro Italo disco leaves the analogue synths alone for a mo' and turns his hand instead to what is essentially a slab of very polished, disco- and house-inspired pop in a vein that's not a million miles from Crazy P.

Mix-wise, the Single and Instrumental versions come on like a lost Patrice Rushen number given a (mild) house makeover. Sare's own 115 BPM Mix and Dub slow things down in a Nightdubbin' kinda way, while the Nothing You Can Do Mix keeps the tempo but goes even more to town on those 80s dub flavas. Steve Kotey & Manestar and Ilija Rudman, on their respective mixes, both flirt with Balearic disco-house vibes, while Drrtyhaze's remix introduces some nice squelchy Chi-town 303 bass.

But overall, the vibe is house-ified, disco-tastic pop done exceedingly well, proving this Slovenian producer is no one-pony.

Monday, 17 October 2011

A nice little deep house four-tracker here from Unrivaled Music, courtesy of Australian newcomer (as far as I can tell) Johann Mentz.

High kicks things off, a midtempo affair that's surprisingly busy but pretty mellow all the same, with a soulful "can't come down" male vocal hook. Then you have Old Tricks, which is slightly more uptempo and, to these ears, slightly more satisfying thanks to the use of some old school-sounding chords/stabs.

Next up is Sine Qua Non, another track that's quite old school in its sound palette, reminding me of classic Jersey productions from the likes of Victor Simonelli or Tommy Musto, albeit at a faster tempo. And then finally we get to Lost Soul itself, a dreamy but still relatively upbeat number equally suitable for deeper floors or those post-club moments…

All told, an impressive EP from a new producer, so show some love and let's hope we hear more soon.

Out: This week

About: You can find Unrivaled online here or hear more from Mr Mentz on Soundcloud.

I've said several times on here lately what good stuff Denmark's What Happens have been turning out of late. Well, this latest comes from da main man Tim Andresen, and is no exception.

In its original form, Arena is a tuff-ish houser yet, being based around a rolling funk bassline and some lovely warm piano chords, it's pleasingly musical as well. The Chris Rawles Remix is a pared-down take that perhaps lacks the big room accessibility of the Original but that will work better on deeper/more specialist floors, while finally Mark Cruse & Thomas Dieckmann supply a remix that takes us more into tech-house territory.

It's the Rawles Remix I'm feeling most I think but expect to hear the Original in clubs a lot too.

Out: This week

About: The What Happens website is here or you can find 'em on MySpace

Sunday, 16 October 2011

I posted these earlier in the week on the TIWWD Facebook page but just in case you missed 'em… what we have here, for your Sunday night grooving the bluse away pleasure, are a whapping ruddy great SEVEN HOURS of really quite stunningly lovely deep house mixes from my boy DK Watts to download and enjoy.

If you miss these, then you really are more of a fool than I took you for. Nuff said!

Oh God, where do I start with this one? Because the South African house stalwart has here served up a little belter of a tune, with mixes to suit a range of tastes.

The original's a gentle soulful house affair that wouldn't sound out of place on Om, or on Naked back in the day. The Nutritious Mix sticks to the soulful house vibe but with a more sumptuous feel, DK Watts (of whom more in a mo') serves up Dub and Instrumental passes (so there's even something for the vocal haters!) that are pure deep house dancefloor bump, and Chemical Warfare (AKA 3am's Al Bradley)'s mix will delight lovers of old skool US garage… specifically lovers of those big sparse organ dubs. And then finally, Eric Sharp's rub takes us into spaced-out future garage-esque territory, with quick n' clicky beats underpinning a very big and echo-y mix.

Whatever flavour of deeper house grooves you're into, then, you're likely to find something to please here. More likely, if your tastes are anything like mine then you're gonna be spoilt for choice. Go seek.

Out: This week

About: This comes on Bounce House, the label run by the Short Bus Kids of whom DK Watts is of course one-half. I've said how good Bounce House are so many times, both on here and in iDJ, that it's getting quite embarrassing now… but what can I say, this is another bomb! Anyway, here's their website.

Seem to be getting less nu-disco sent through lately, but you can always rely on Nang… and this latest doesn't disappoint.

Actually though, to dismiss this as 'nu-disco' would be to do it something of a disservice. Spirit Free, presented here in both vocal (feat Michelle Bee) and instrumental versions, is similar to the kind of genre-defying, "post-nu disco Balearic pop" – for want of a better term – that Matt Playford and Tom Gray serve up under their Weirdo Police guise (as showcased on the excellent We Love… Portraits 01 album earlier this year), with a little bit of jazz-funk thrown in for good measure. And Budutut is a similarly hard-to-pin-down affair that you might describe as somewhere between nu-old funk, free jazz and slo-mo house.

All very interesting stuff. But the real reason this is here is the title track, Grapevine, which you'd definitely file under the nu-disco tag… and which is also, incidentally, the best Marvin Gaye re-work you're likely to hear all year, centred around that oh-so-familiar bassline and throwing house-y beats and space-y disco noises around the room right left and centre.

About: Here's the Nang homepage and obviously you can click through above to find out more about Unclepasha. I'll tell you right now he's from St Petersburg and his real name's Pavel Gorelikov, but that's all I know.

Saturday, 15 October 2011

A nice varied set of mixes on this latest from Endemic Digital, ranging from deep house to, well, not quite so deep house.

The Original starts with simple boom-click-boom-click percussion, a looping snippet of Afro-ish male vocal and an understated struttin' b-line, before in comes a throbbing, sci-fi ish synth that introduces the disembodied "in my head" main vocal hook. Some Detroitian string stabs then complete the musical palette, which overall is painting a picture of bleak, stark beauty. Voodoo magic indeed.

The Dave James Minimal Dub then does pretty much what it says on the tin (or would, if it came in a tin): the beauty here is even more stark and spartan, yet rich and warm rather than bleak. Very nice indeed, in fact this mix could be my favourite, certainly for home listening.

But then d00sh serves up a rub that's different again, pushing forward with tribal-style rhythms and some big synth sounds which hark back to the post-rave days of early prog and nu-NRG (think Gat Decor's Passion, f'rinstance) and that are counterpointed nicely by a sweeping, Balearic keyboard (not piano, more like an 80s analogue synth on 'organ' setting) melody. It's a mix for dancing to all day on an Ibeefa terrace (if there's still anywhere you're actually allowed to do that).

As I said, three widely varying mixes stylistically, but all three of 'em highly playable.

Out: This week

About: Here for about the 347th time, is the inevitable link to Endemic Digital, just in case you just came in! You can easily find all their social media pages from there.

Friday, 14 October 2011

It seems like a while since we had anything on here from Acryl Music, but I think that was down to all the confusion of iDJ closing and my old email not working anymore. But now here's the latest from the Swiss house label, and I'm pleased to report that the usual high quality standards are still being maintained!

In its original form, Pace Of Mind is a midtempo deep houser notably for a seriously large, speaker-satisfying walking bassline that does double as the track's lead. Niceness! You also get not one but two remixes from the ever-prolific Harold Heath. His Re-Rub brings the track's dreamy, trippy elements to the fore (while still being big n' groovy enough for floor play), while his Dub really ain't nothing but a heads-down groove thang, in the best possible way.

It's probably one for the deep house faithful rather than a track that'll reach out to mainstream audiences… but then we ARE the deep house faithful on here, aren't we? So that's just dandy.

Out:Today!

About: Like I said, it's been a while but Daniel Kneubühler AKA Da Funk's Acryl Music has long been both a favourite and a supporter of This Is Why We Dance, so show some love and hit up their website and Facebook page.

Thursday, 13 October 2011

Bored of bouncy tech-housers with Balkan-gypsy-jazz toppings yet? Yep, you and seemingly most other people cos there's been a sharp decline in the number of such tracks dropping into my inbox lately.

Here, Kaspar Kochker takes a similar formula but approaches things slightly differently… instead of accordions and violins, Incredible India is just dripping in sitars and tablas - along with those driving tech-house beats and a positively RUDE big fat bassline.

Now y'see, I've never really been a fan of Latin or African music, so the constant deluge of Afro and Latino-inspired house generally leaves me pretty cold. Call me a groove-impaired WASP honky mofo if you will. But Indian music… that's a different matter. Always loved bhangra n' such – I grew up in Bradford after all – yet subcontinentally-inspired house fusions have generally been pretty thin on the ground. So yeah, that's a long roundabout way of saying I'm loving this.

The addition of a fairly self-explanatory Back To 90s Acid Tweak rub from Toris Badic is merely the icing on the cake!

Out: This week

About: This comes on UK label Quadraphonic Recordings, who you can find on Facebook and MySpace.

Meanwhile, odd fact of the day: the school friend who first introduced me to bhangra and Bollywood movies, round about 25 years ago, is now a well-respected cricket commentator for Radio 5. Strange but true.

More quality deep house here, this time from Leeds-based boss of Re:Tweak Records, Howard Sessions, making a guest appearance on the ever-reliable Lost My Dog.

Sessions himself provides two versions of the title track, the lazy* pads ’n' percussion-based groove of the original and the more 'classic'-sounding Howard's Drunken Mix, which makes a lot more of the rather lovely pianos. The remix honours here though go to Larry Fives, AKA Laurence Ritchie, who works some IKs-style magic with the tune and reconfigures it as a reet jaunty lil' dancefloor number.

You also get two mixes of Barking. The original here's kind of deep house with the most subtle of nods to UKG sounds, while the remix foregrounds the soulful "let's ride" vocal sample and gets busy with some shufflin' percussion, before getting progressively mellower and more spaced-out as the minutes tick by.

Nice and easy does it…

Out: This week

About: You shouldn't need me to tell you anything about Lost My Dog by now, surely? So I won't. Ha!

*that's 'lazy' as in the track's kinda unhurried and doesn't seem in any mad rush to grab you by the jugular, you understand… not 'lazy' as in he should have done more with it. Just so's we're clear.

Wednesday, 12 October 2011

You wouldn't believe how tired I am right now. Sadly, this has nothing to do with late night carousing with the jetset in swanky international nitespots or anything like that, and a lot to do with a troublesome Bristol water main that they were digging up, repairing and replacing outside my bedroom window till nearly 3am (when some of us have to be up for work at 7, don't you know). Moan, mutter, etc.

Anyway, said troublesome water main is why I didn't get round to a blog post yesterday, and also why this might not be the most elucidating, erudite or enlightening review of a house record ever sent out to find its way in the ether, either. But basically The Speed Of Soul EP is a really rather lovely six-track slab of deep house goodness from Mr West, featuring three rubs apiece of the title track and Just For Today.

The Speed Of Soul itself features samples from Carl Sagan's Cosmos or some similar egghead astrophysics thing. The original foregrounds some nice long, resonant organ chords; Silver City's remix keeps the same but beefs up the beats a little and uses a funkier b-line, while the Javier Varez Remix takes us into more Chi-town deep territory through the strategic deployment of a fat, squelchy 303 bassline.

Just For Today, meanwhile, is in its original form a slow-building affair with a couple of different intertwining vocal snips. It's fine, but the sparser 9West Messenger Remix is pleasing these ears more with its little stabs of echo-y slap bass, while finally the Lonya & Roi Okev remix takes us off into deep space with lots of ambient noise and atmospherics, long, lingering pads, extensive reverb and heavy FX on the vocals.

Like I said, a really rather lovely slab all round.

Out: This week

About: This is the 18th release on UK label Adaptation Music, who describe themselves as releasing "Deep, soulful, jazzy [house] with emphasis on quality over quantity.". Sounds like a good plan to me! As well as the website you can find 'em on Facebook, Soundcloud and MySpace.

Monday, 10 October 2011

After the lush deepness of the Agent Matteo single (below), here's some slightly tuffer, techier house vibes courtesy of Cesar Bass Romero, who apparently is something of a megastar in his native Chile.

When I say tuffer n' techier, though… that's comparatively speaking. In fact, the original here is as likely to appeal just as much to more traditionalist deep house heads (not least because of the reference to David Mancuso in the spoken vocal, which gives the track a certain snob appeal!). But then if you do want some head-mangled-in-a-warehouse action, you can head for label boss Tone Depth's 6am Twisted Dub.

The second release from Matty 'Agent Matteo' Gillespie's own label, Deep Rhythm Music, and as you might expect – given the name, and if you know Matt's track record – deep n' groovy house music is the order of the day.

Another Day feature crisp percussion, a Jersey-ish organ parping away in the background and some stabby piano chords sprinkled over the top, all adding up to something of an old school-sounding treat. Cosy Corner is a slightly more uptempo and energetic affair, but equally lush on the sounds front, and then finally Golden Sunset, as the name suggests, takes us into slightly more laidback territory for those post-club, or indeed sunset, moments, and features snippets of soulful male vocals as well as even more organ sounds.

Another strong release, then, from what's shaping up to be a label worth watching.

Sunday, 9 October 2011

Back in June, I told you about the first-ever release from Barnoldswick, Lancashire-based label Definite Ridge, Olivaffair's Generations EP, calling it "a very strong debut indeed." Well, now here are Leigh Oliver (AKA Olivaffair) and friends back again, this time with the label's debut compilation.

And guess what? It's a stormer. The bouncy tech-house of Chemical G's What Words Can't Say kicks things off in fine style, Gazzy Marvin's Dial Up takes up the baton in bumpin' dancefloor deep style, Marvin Parks' The Itch is another quality funk-fuelled houser and… well, you get the idea.

This is an album it's pretty much physically impossible to play and sit still in your seat, with all tracks aimed fair and square at the dancefloor; what's more, though, while deep/tech house is the over-riding theme, there's enough variety on offer – see for instance the more technoid roll of Ovr Kill's Narrow Lanes, or the thoughtful, Trentemoller-esque meanderings of This Time, I Say by Sliptide – to prove this isn't a label that's likely to get stuck in one groove.

It's early days, but on this evidence, Definite Ridge could become a serious force to reckon with. If you dig the likes of Salted Music, 90watts or Lost My Dog, you need to be checking these guys out – they're packing more bounce to the ounce for sure. And in fact, you can do so right here...

Saturday, 8 October 2011

This latest from Stripped Recordings sits somewhere between deep and progressive house, and as such could find favour with a range of jocks. An all-instrumental affair, remixes come from Kid Bucle, Michael King and Moojaa.

The defining characteristic of the Original Mix is an old-skool Balearic piano motif that seems to go on forever… in a good way, you understand. Kid Bucle drops the tempo for the intro and throws in some E2-E4/Sueno Latino-esque birdsong/rainforest noises, then pumps it up and adds a slightly funkier bassline. Michael King drops the tempo right down to more of a cosmic disco/Scandolearic kinda pace, and then finally Moojaa chills things out with a dreamy, late-night near-ambient rub.

Friday, 7 October 2011

More quality from the ever-dependable 3am Recordings stable here, with a range of mixes to suit various different times/moods/DJs/floors.

The original of Bad Habits – which features, on all mixes, a very distinctive spoken vocal of some guy talking about how he's got no plans to give up his bad habits just yet – is a dark, throbby deep/tech-house thing. Claire Ripley's remix is still in a tech-house vein but considerably more driving and floor-friendly, with some nice whompy bottom end. Joe Morris then gives us a languid 3am Dub refix taking us into cosmic disco/Balearic territory, and then the Kirsten Sees Mix is on a cleaner, less techy, more straight-up house tip to start out, then gets intriguingly wonky and jazzified as it goes on. I'd pick a fave but it's a bit pointless... they're all good and will all work dropped at the right time.

And that's not all, because you also get two mixes of Hissyfit, a deep and acid-y workout in its original form coming complete with a slightly darker, techier rerub from 3am main man Al Bradley, wearing his Chemical Warfare hat.

Thursday, 6 October 2011

Another one I'd have expected not to be particularly enamoured of, but for different reasons than the Nokken release below. See, Peter Presta's brand of hi-octane, stompy house has always been a bit too cheesy-shirts-off-in-a-gay-club for my liking, generally… but here he tones down the worst of the gorgonzola excesses and comes up with something altogether more likeable.

Don't get me wrong, this disco-tinged stomper is still one for the more mainstream floors rather than the ultra-cool underground joints, but as 'accessible' tackle goes it's a lot less off-puttingly cheesy than much similar material, and it's probably the best thing I've heard with Mr Presta's name on it to date.

For that reason alone, it deserves a mention today.

Out:This week

About: As ever, this is on Presta's own Applejaxx label (the link takes you to the Facebook page and you can find 'em on Soundcloud as well)

I mentioned the other day I'd been getting a lot more into techno lately… or getting into a lot more techno lately, if you see what I mean. Well, here's yet another techno release that I'm definitely more into than I probably would have been a few years back.

The Dirty Planet EP consists of three original tracks, entitled Fluxuate, Subtraction and Concentrate, plus an Alternate Mix of Subtraction. Essentially, though, all four cuts work the same kinda vibe: deep, sparse techno heavy on the sound design, but with a darkly groovy quality that for me that was missing from most of that whole 'minimal' thing (under which tag you might otherwise file this) and without any those nasty glitchy beats.

I think it's probably recent explorations of the deeper end of dubstep that've opened my ears to stuff like this more but yeah, this is really rather good.

Out: This week

About: This comes on Wunderkammer Recordings, who are based in Douglas on the Isle of Man… which was also once home to John Coghlan, the drummer out of Status Quo. Why I happen to know this is a long story, but don't say you never learn anything looking on here.

Wednesday, 5 October 2011

Following on from his excellent Chips, Beans & Cheese EP which featured on here back in July, here comes Mr Howells again with another sterling four-tracker that, again, blurs the lines between house and techno.

Tech-houser Acha kicks off the EP with its no-nonsense kicks, wonky Hammond flourishes and snatches of vocal samples, both spoken (some dude talking about his first E-xperience) and sung (or rather wailed, in an Ofra Haza-esque fashion). Pantrik, up next, is slightly more readily file-able under 'techno', but in a groovy way, and comes accompanied with a more downtempo n' druggy Stanky Remix.

And then finally Steady On Old Boy, by way of contrast, takes us back into deep house territory, in this particular instance deep house of a very contemporary and rather eastern European-sounding nature, overlaid with heavily-treated soulful vocal snips and what sound to these ears like even more heavily-treated steel drum trills.

As with the last EP, then, overall the vibe is original, forward-thinking and defiantly genre-agnostic – three very good qualities indeed.